Key to smooth traffic in Mumbai lies in parking lots: Experts

Organised parking policy, colour-coded lots, better planning and traffic management of roads are ways out of traffic mess

The city has 33 lakh vehicles, but only 60,000 parking spaces , according to official data.

A parking lot at King’s Circle on Wednesday. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

With 2,000km of roads in the city, these numbers mean your commute is a crawl and also life-threatening. According to experts, the key to a smooth commute lies in an organised parking policy based on reasonable rates, colour-coded parking slots and intelligent planning and traffic management of roads.

For an organised policy, experts said the government does not need to charge an equal amount for all spaces, but adjust rates according to the road.

“People are used to free parking. The government should start by charging minimum amounts for parking on less-used lanes so that the people get into the habit of paying for parking,” said Ashok Datar, chairman of the Mumbai Environmental and Social Network (MESN), which has been pioneering solutions for better management of transport.

The team suggested parking based on the width of the road. If it is less than six metres, the lane should be a no-parking zone. However, if 9m, one-side parking should be permitted, but for a fee.

Experts also suggested a system where high penalties are imposed on parking on the footpath, at corners of roads, especially at junctions, parking within 700m of a bus stop. They further suggested the government should mark free parking spaces with white paint, parking for a fee with yellow and no-parking spaces red.

“In Mumbai, where space is very valuable, free parking is the biggest subsidy authorities can give. The solution to curb illegal menace lies in charging for parking — an effective tool,” said Dhawal Ashar, urban transport expert. Many experts also suggested planning roads as several roads do not have uniform number of lanes throughout its length.

“Mumbai needed to start taking its east-west connectivity seriously. By continuously upgrading north-south connectivity, commuters are forced to take a longer route if they want to go from west to east,” Ashar said.

The Advance Locality Management (ALM) at King’s Circle had managed to solve parking problems to an extent. Nikhil Desai, from the F-North Citizen’s group, said the ward officer had declared Dadar TT and the Sion Circle no-parking zones. He had allotted a contractor at King’s Circle to charge a parking fee of ₹70 plus GST for an hour.

However, a spanner is in the works as the contract has ended this month . The civic body is now planning to invite new contractors who could charge ₹40 .

The traffic police have undertaken many experiments, including making the Elphinstone and Lower Parel bridges one-way, which have not worked as envisioned. However, not giving up, the traffic police have now banned entry of light and medium-commercial vehicles in central Mumbai from 5pm to 9pm.

An experiment to decongest Ganpat Rao Kadam Marg and allow a straight exit to Worli Naka, instead of taking a U-Turn from Dr E Moses Road and making the road a ‘no-parking’ zone, has seen a reduction in the travel time of commuters from Indiabulls junction to the Dr E Moses Road, however, they are not sure if it is because of the Ola-Uber drivers’ strike.

“We will continue the experiment for a few more days before taking a decision,” said Amitesh Kumar, joint commissioner of police (traffic). The traffic police agreed that after the closure of the Delisle bridge in Lower Parel, congestion has increased. “The clog in this junction trickles down right to at least eight roads,” said Kumar.

“The law states that parking on footpaths, corners of the roads and double parking are illegal, however, commuters continue to do so. We take action against illegal parking, but if we do so on one street, the problem shifts to another lane,” said Kumar.